their purchases as they shopped. His mother said it was because she wanted all the women to see her youngest son and how filial he was.
He would believe her, except she already had a son who’d achieved great things. She didn’t need her useless second son to help increase her pride. She just wanted someone to hold her things. But at least that meant she wanted him around. So he went along.
Before the war, their city had had a variety of classes. Now there was no in-between. If you weren’t noble, then you were slave class. Junu’s family was part of the noble class, barely. And his parents always worried about their place in society and the maintenance of their precarious hold on the claim of nobility. The market was the only place the two levels of society mingled.
The girl wasn’t entirely visible through the crowd of men surrounding her.
Junu could barely make out her fair complexion, her raven-dark hair, long and flowing. Not the way a noble would wear it, but she still held herself with such grace and class. And the men surrounding her were from some of the most noble houses in town. Her clothes were made of fine silk. Brightly colored, but still not enough to take attention from her beautiful smile.
Then her eyes lifted and latched on to Junu’s. A quick second later, someone shifted, and she was swallowed again by the crowd of her admirers.
Junu felt drawn to her, but his mother placed a hand on his arm.
“Come, Junu, there are more vendors down this street.”
He tried to crane his neck to catch another glimpse, but she was gone.
She found him later.
As he waited for his mother and sisters to finish perusing a table of shoes, the girl approached him.
“You are one who observes more often than he partakes.” She did not say it like a question, but like a statement.
“And you are one who can’t seem to move much without attracting a dozen distractions.”
She gave a small chuckle and gazed at the sky, taking in the sight of a kite flying above.
“I envy that kite. How beautiful and free it must feel all alone in the sky.”
“But a string holds it down. How free could it really be?” Junu asked.
She nodded in agreement and said, “What do you wish to accomplish in this life?”
He was surprised at the question but too polite not to answer. “I would like it if I were free of social constraints. If I could be who I wish without the expectations of family and others. Though I have a plain face and my family expects me to become a scholar, I have more interest in art.”
“Are you any good?”
“I’m great. I could sketch something for you if you’d like.”
“Could you sketch me?” she asked.
He was speechless, so he just nodded.
And so they started spending time together. He’d steal out of the house to meet her in the nearby forest. She said that it was easier away from the crowds of town. And it would give them the space and privacy to finish the painting.
His family never noticed what he was doing unless they were looking for him to do some chore. So it was easy for him to spend hours and hours away.
And in the course of this painting, they fell in love.
He loved her under a new moon sky, lit only by stars. And that night, he asked her to marry him. When she accepted, he brought her home to meet his family and they laughed at him. They said there was no way a lady so beautiful would want to be with him. He was so homely and nervous and mediocre. His head was always in the clouds instead of trying to get an appointment that would make his family proud.
Plus, Junu’s love of making art was no life for the son of a nobleman. Even though he was the second son, he was still a son of a noble house.
Junu vowed to leave his family behind once he was married. He no longer needed their disdain if he had Sinhye. He rented a small room and waited for the day he’d marry his bride.
But that wasn’t to happen. His death came while he was still unwed.
21
SOMIN OPENED THE cabinet in Junu’s kitchen for the third time without taking anything out. She kept opening it only to forget what she was doing and close it again. Then she’d remember a few minutes later, open the cabinet